Chapter Thirteen #3
“I don’t know how legal it is to have a lawyer who’s at the
very least a material witness to the crime in this interview,” Deputy Morgan
stated.
“We’re not in a court and there’s no one else around. He
requires an attorney beside him as is his constitutional right. I believe even
your public defender is out of town, so it’s me or no interview,” Garrett said
flatly. “If it comes to court, I’ll bring in a proper defense attorney from
Dallas. For now, I’m here to ensure my client’s rights are honored. Ask your
questions.”
The sheriff huffed in the background. “Go on, Morgan. It won’t
change anything, but we need Rollins’s story for the report. I want to be able
to check everything off on this one. We need to move fast.”
“Because you’re under pressure from the Barnes-Fleetwood
family?” Garrett asked.
From Olivia. From the woman he loved, who now thought he
risked her life. And for what? He still couldn’t figure out why he would do
that. Motive was important when it came to solving a crime, and he didn’t have
one.
But Jack Barnes might have one. Jack Barnes might not like
an ex-con laying hands on his daughter. Would he go this far to keep an
unwanted suitor away? As plans went, it would work. He wouldn’t be able to
touch Olivia if he was in prison, and it seemed like Jack ran big portions of
this town despite all the talk of everyone ostracizing him.
Jack Barnes was part owner of The Barn. It would be easy to
get the staff to report on who his daughter was with, and easier to get them to
follow a particular story.
He didn’t want to believe it, but he had to think about all
the possibilities.
“This case is important to the community,” the sheriff said
carefully, his eyes glancing at the recorder on the desk. “We don’t like young
women getting roofied in this town.”
“And yet in the last year you’ve had four date rape cases,
none of which you chose to pursue.”
The sheriff frowned. “Those were he said-she said cases. I’m
not ruining some boy’s future because a girl had second thoughts.”
“And yet two of those cases involved GHB. So I would like it
on the record that the sheriff is taking his orders from Jack Barnes,” Garrett
said clearly.
“I ain’t taking orders,” the sheriff replied.
“But you have been talking to him.”
“His daughter is the victim. I’ve been keeping him updated,”
the sheriff clarified with a long sigh. “I ain’t gonna apologize for that. Get
on with the interview.”
“What is your relationship to Olivia Barnes-Fleetwood?”
Deputy Morgan asked.
He looked to Garrett. In this, his friend was the leader.
When Garrett nodded, Keane looked back to Deputy Morgan. “I’m working as the
foreman on her parents’ ranch while Josh is on his honeymoon.”
Garrett stared at him.
Keane sighed inwardly. “I am also involved in an emotional
relationship with Olivia. We’re seeing each other on an exclusive basis.”
Garrett cleared his throat.
He was going to push everything tonight. Well, they all knew
anyway. “Except Garrett. He’s part of the relationship as well.”
“So both you and your lawyer are dating Olivia
Barnes-Fleetwood.” The words were matter of fact, and Deputy Morgan wrote in
her notebook despite the fact the entire conversation was being recorded.
“Yes.” Had been dating her. She likely would never speak to
him again. She probably heard the story from her father and realized who he
really was. Would she testify against him? Would her words put him back in
hell?
“Did you go to The Barn tonight with her?”
“We did.” His brain had been almost numb since they shoved
all those volts through him. He’d passed out, and when he woke up in the police
vehicle his brain had been fuzzy with only one thing clear. It was happening
again. He was waking up again, and he didn’t like it.
“Who drove her there?” Deputy Morgan asked.
“I drove. I don’t have a car here and Olivia’s is waiting
for new tires to be shipped, so we took our friend Gabe’s truck, and she and
Gabriel Lodge and Miranda McNamara-O’Malley followed along in Gigi’s SUV.” They
didn’t quite fit into the SUV without shoving one of the large men in the back.
At the time Keane had been happy because it meant they could
leave early if they wanted to. He’d had visions of play time, with Olivia’s
gorgeous body tied down and waiting for his pleasure.
“At what time did you arrive?”
He thought back. He had to focus. The facts were important,
and he couldn’t get them mixed up. It didn’t matter that he’d been through
something traumatic. They would use any mistakes he made against him. “Around
six. We went into the dining room for dinner.”
“When did you start drinking?”
Naturally they were going to concentrate on that. “We ate
first. I think most of us had tea with dinner. We switched to margaritas and
beers when we went dancing. We ordered our first round at roughly seven thirty.
All the men had beers and the women got margaritas.”
“Were you all sitting together?” Deputy Morgan’s eyes were
on her notebook.
“We were at two different tables, though we managed to find
a couple that were fairly close. I could see Olivia. The men were at one table,
and the ladies had one as well. It was crowded and the big tables were all
taken.”
Deputy Morgan looked up. “I would think if she’s your
girlfriend, then she would want to sit with you.”
He remembered the drill. Every tiny bit of information would
be picked at and peeled back to find whatever fit their narrative. “We wanted
to get to know Gabe better, and Olivia wanted some time with her friends.”
Deputy Morgan made a sound as she wrote something in her
notebook.
Garrett sat up. “All of this should be verifiable by
witnesses and the security cameras. Our server’s name was Hannah.”
Deputy Morgan nodded. “Hannah Jones. We’ve talked to her.
According to her you ordered a round but chose to go to the bar to get your
second round.”
There was a reason for that. “She disappeared. We waited for
a while, but the place was crowded, and I’m sure she was handling a lot of
tables.”
“She said she wasn’t gone for long. She went to help a
fellow server with a large table in the dining room. She thinks she was gone
for maybe five minutes.”
“It was more like thirty,” Garrett interjected.
Deputy Morgan stared at him. “Are you the one giving the
answers, Counselor?”
“It was a lot longer than five minutes,” Keane continued.
This was where they would try to trip him up. “We waited for a while, but I
finally got up and got the drinks myself.”
“You didn’t stop and ask your girlfriend if she wanted one?”
He had to stay calm. He couldn’t show how irritated he was.
It would be noted that he was difficult, and he had too many strikes against
him already. “She was still sipping on her first margarita and at the time, she
was talking to Gigi and Miranda. I didn’t want to bother them.”
“I thought she was alone.”
He shook his head. “As I walked by, I checked on her. She
and Gigi and Miranda were laughing. When I came back, Gigi was dancing and
Olivia was talking to some other woman. I suspect a friend from town.”
“Lisa Nelson,” Deputy Morgan said with a nod. “She stated
that Olivia was fully in control when they talked briefly at eight p.m.”
“But she wasn’t led out of the bar until almost nine. I’d
like to see the time stamps on those security cameras.” Garrett’s brow
furrowed. “I think you have a timeline problem. Those drugs work quickly. Most
people who have their drinks spiked have symptoms within fifteen to thirty
minutes.”
“I find it interesting that you know so much about it,
Counselor,” the sheriff said with a lazy drawl. “How do you know that specific
information?”
Garrett’s eyes rolled. “Law and Order: SVU. You
should try it sometime, Sheriff. You might learn something.”
There was a knock on the door and the sheriff went to open
it. He disappeared outside.
Morgan sighed and looked tired. “Mr. Pace, I need to get the
timeline down. If what you’re saying is true, then the timeline is important.”
Garrett sat back and nodded Keane’s way.
“After I brought our beers back, we talked for a little